Planter



May 21,A 1940.

' A. CROCE 2,201,556

PLANTER Filed March 28, 1938 s INVENTOR. F 5- AIA/Ga 0 C/Pocf. BY

ATTORNEY.

Patented May 21, 1940 UNITED 'Sra Eea-'r PLAN TER Angelo Croce, Welby, Colo., assigner -of lforty-mine per cent to Joseph F. Hener, Denver, Colo.

This invention relates to a planter, more particularly to a seed planter for use by truck gardeners, nurseries, and the like which have relatively small plots of ground from which a maximum yield is desired.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a planter which will simultaneously plant a plurality of rows of plants and whichwill uniformly and economically distribute the seeds along each row.

Another object of the invention'is to provide means on the planter for automatically marking the position of the next row at either side of the row being planted.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency.

These will become more apparent from the fol-- tion taken on the line 4-4, Fig. 3.

lil

Fig. 5 is a detail View of what will be herein l designated the seed brush.

Fig. 6 is horizontal section through the seed spouts, taken on the line 6 6, Fig. 1.

Figs. 'l and 8 illustrate alternate types of seed plates for use in the planter.

Ihe improved planter employs a main frame member Il), supported at its forward extremity on a single drive wheel Il and at its rearward extremity on a follower wheel I2. The follower wheel is mounted in a wheel yoke I3 which is` adjustably mounted in a receiving sleeve M, in which it may be locked by means of a suitable set screw I5. A pair of handle bars I6 extend upwardly and rearwardly from the forward extremity of the frame member III and are supported at any desired height thereon by means of an adjustable brace I'I.

A seed hopper I8 is mounted on the frame III. The hopper I8 terminates at its bottonr in a brush chamber I9, through which a brush shaft extends. A series of brush hubs 2l are mounted at intervals along the shaft 2D within the chamber I9 Vand are set thereonby means ,of l

suitable set screws 2.2.

The brush hubs each carry aY plurality of uniformly separated brushes 23, preferably consisting of threaded sleeves 24, which are screwed into the hubs, ZI, each of which carries a tuft of bristles tol form the brushes.

Immediately below the brush members is a channeled seed plate 25, therebeingone channel in the plate below each of the brushes. The seed plate rests by gravity in the bottom of the brush chamber and is formed with' pear-shaped seed openingsrZii. A slidable valve plate 2'! is positionedA below the seed plate. The valve plate contains similar, but oppositely faced, seed openings or ports which can be brought into register with the openings 26 by horizontal movement of the plate 2'5. As illustrated, the plate is urged in one direction by means of suitable springs 28 and is adjustively moved inthe opposite direction by means of an adjusting screw 29. Regulation of the plate 27 regulates the size of the discharge orifices from the said hopper. The orice, caused` by the coaction of the two plates is diamond-shaped, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The shaft 20 is driven from a drive shaft 3i?, upon which the drive wheel I I is locked, through the medium 'of stepped pulleys 3i and a drive belt 32. Bychanging the position of the beltv 32 on the pulleys 33, three different changes of rela'- tive speed of the brush members may be obtained. f

Immediately below the plate 2l is a seed spout boot 33 from which three seed spouts 3d project.v The seed spouts 3@ are preferably arranged with the center spout leading and the two remaining spouts following in the rear and at each side thereof, as'shown in Fig. 6.

A furrow closer 35 follows the spouts 34. The furrow closer consists of a wide, flat paddle-like member which is hinged to the boot at 35 and rests on the ground at its rear extremity under the influence of its own weight.

A furrow marker 3'I projects outwardly and downwardly at the rear side of the frame Il). The member 31 consists of an L-shaped bar se` cured ina pivoted sleeve 38 by means of a suitable set screw 39. The sleeve 38'is`mounted on a vertical shaft 42 which extends downwardly through a vertical sleeve 40 and through a compression spring 4l. The spring acts to constantly urge rthe vertical shaft 42 downwardly. The vertical sleeve 40 is notched and the horizontal sleeve. 38 is provided with tenons 43 which t into'the notches to maintain the marker 31 fr ortis Y at right angles to the axis of the frame. By lifting upon the sleeve 38, the tenons may be released from their notches and the marker 31 can be swung around 180 to place it upon the opposite side of the frame when returning on the rows.

It is believed that the operation of the device can be fully understood from the above description and drawing. Briefly, the entire machine is pushed along the desired rows by hand. The front seed tube 34 plows a seed groove or furrow in the ground and guides the seeds intothe furrow. The two following seed tubes 34 form a furrow at each side of the center furrow and in doing so throw the soil over the first furrow. All of the furrows are then closed by means of the furrow closer 35 which sweeps the soil thereover.

The seeds are uniformly fed into the seed furrows by means of the brushes 23 which continually sweep the seeds along the grooves or channels across the discharge orifices in the plates 25 and 21. The grooves in these plates concentrate the seeds over the orifices and the rotating brushes keep them in movement so that they cannot pack thereon. The brushes, being flexible, cannot become embedded or packed in the seeds and always rotate freely.

As the operator moves along the furrow,'he plants three rows of seed simultaneously and marks the position, by means of the marker 31, for the next rows. Thus, a uniform row spacing and a uniform distribution of seeds is obtained. The latter distribution can be regulated to suit the particular seeds being used by means of the belt and pulley relations as well as the orice s1ze.

'Ihe seed plate 25 is removable and may be replaced by a plate having either one central hole, as shown in Fig. 7, or one having two side holes, as shown in Fig. 8, should single or double row planting be desired for the larger root plants.

While a speciiic form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

A multiple row seed planter comprising: a seed hopper; a rectangular brush chamber in the bottom of said hopper; a seed distributing boot closing the bottom of said chamber and having vertical seed passages opening to said chamber through its upper face; a sliding valve plate resting on the upper face of said boot and provided with ports which may be brought into register with said passages; a removable seed plate shaped to t Within said brush chamber and resting by gravity on said valve plate, said seed plate having openings in register with said passages; a brush shaft extendingacross said seed plate; a brush on said shaft over each of said openings; a series of grooves extending throughout the length of the upper face of ysaid seed plate, there being a groove beneath each of said brushes; and means for rotating said shaft.

. ANGELO CROCE. 

